Archives for October 2016

Kameron Hurley’s The Mirror Empire is Epic Fantasy at its very best. From the opening prologue to the very end, the novel is intriguing and engaging.

The plot was one strong point of the novel, but there were many to choose from: a strong, independent female lead, interesting and well-developed supporting characters, a well-formulated social structure, and an epic struggle between two opposing factions. As well as all these elements, it’s clear early on that the author knows her craft: the writing is self-assured, the pacing is tight – introducing new story elements and characters without over-exposition – and I found the combination resulted in an excellent, absorbing novel that I found hard to put down.

If you like Epic Fantasy, and are looking for something that stands out from the crowd – a book that does its own thing while still being an excellent read – then this could be the book you’re looking for.

Here is a selection of books from my writing shelf, those books I would consider the most useful – if not essential – for anyone who wants to learn to write fiction:

Stephen King’s On Writing is probably the first book about the craft that I read. Part memoir, part manual, it’s both fascinating and covers many of the fundamentals of writing fiction. For several years, this was the only writing book I possessed.

Brevity.

Find it here.

Jack Bickham’s Scene & Structure is a great resource. You can have great characters, write great prose, and deliver sparkling dialogue, but this book is invaluable for learning how to structure a novel, how to set the framework for your story.